Born of Flames
by Verdigurl
Summary: Sharp, collected and far more dangerous than her parents are willing to naively neglect, Keitaro is sent to Konoha for treatment for her 'condition'. They figure she's just got nightmares, but Keitaro knows better. After all, it wasn't a human that saved her from the hunters. (OC)
1. Introduction

**XXXX**

**X Naruto Fanfiction X**

**Born of Flames**

**xxx**

_Chapter One:_

_Introduction_

**XXXX**

"I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?"

- Hazel Grace, _The Fault in Our Stars_

**XXXX**

Inside me, there's a rage I cannot contain. It keeps me up for hours and my nights are spent trying to keep my eyes open - because if I close them, I see the flames. If I let that happen, then it's already too late.

I can hear my mother in the garden. She's singing something, but not something familiar. It's different this time. I don't make a conscious effort to move, my back's to the open door, legs folded with my calligraphy set. I don't need to, because I can see the flames on the door. And the shadows.

_Don't turn around,_ my voice says, lisping out. Sounding dead and dry. _Close your eyes. Ignore them._

And the itching starts.

**XXXX**

The child awoke in a sweat, feeling hot in these covers that really were winter ones; not made for summer at all. They tried to hide and replace it, but she would always wind back with it. She liked to think that she was supporting herself but she knew that's not true. She was living in a dreams of a life away from here.

Away from this stiff air that was filled with bureaucrats and state officials.

Outside, she can hear the padding of feet on a wooden surface; someone's wearing socks. She hears the door open, and peeking through the covers of heer futon, she sees a woman sitting on her knees, as the sliding door opened.

A smile donned her face.

"Ah," She said softly, her words like honey. "You're awake."

The girl poked her nose out from the sheets, huddling up. The woman - most certainly not her own mother - chuckled and removed them entriely so that she was left with nothing but her bedgown. How unbecomming.

"Come on Shijimi-sama. We have a buzy day ahead, and the master doesn't want you to be late for the trip."

She grumbled, standing. It wasn't like She was used to being an official's daughter. She still didn't like the dark or cramped places. Heck, she hadn't lived with the man for long; she'd been outside far too long in his opinion, so they liked to keep her close, keep dibs on her every movement.

The woman helped her change into something appropriate - she really didn't care what to be honest - and the maid escorted her to breakfast, which consisted of all sorts of things that Keitaro never tried before. Lie actually, she tried all of them at least once and still, eating remained to be one of the things she disliked.

Mother was here, eating till the sun came down again, no doubt. It's been a year now since the girl had begun living with them and the atmosphere was unsettling. It was just - _odd._

She didn't like it here.

"Good morning my little poppsie-poo~"

Mother's cooing was almost insasiable, but it wasn't her place to offend the woman. I She simply kissed her face as she pinched her cheeks, and drank water. Food lay in front, but water was more appeasing.

"I think this trip will be really good for you." She stated, licking her chopsticks clean. "I've always found that travelling does _wonders_ for the mind~ You'll get the best help there is my dear, no doubt about it. Can't have my poppsie-poo having nightmares!"

Keitaro sighed. _Or to bluntly put it, she's trying to get rid of me._

_I'll gladly take it at this point._

What sounded like her brothers running through the house interrupted her thoughts - the sound of her Mother still blabbering on irking her. She sighed silently and replied. "Yes Okaa-sama."

That always pleased the woman.

**XXXX**

She always wondered why they never moved to Konoha anyway, since it was way bigger here, more livelier thn their house in the countryside. Then again, she was aware that Father worked here so often that he liked to escape and, even so, it felt like too much of a job to accomplish. She hated new places. They smelt unfamiliar and that left her on edge. Everyone did.

Her Father was the only one of her family to come along - not that she cared. She stood silently while he went through the paperwork at the gate; Keitaro flanked by two people she did not know wearing animal masks.

They made her miss home.

Her father was a buffoon of a man. The people around her, they called him the Fire Daimyō, but the girl held a straight spine when he addressed her. Blank eyes blinked. "Alright darling, let's get you to the compound. You must be tired from travelling, yes?"

"I feel fine, Otou-sama." Her hands were gently crossed in front and Keitaro followed him inside the city. The ninja in the box out front _did_ attempt to address her but she blankly stared forward, as if in a silent tanturm.

It wasn't even lunchtime when they arrived; they'd left pretty early. The compound was owned by the family, but it was more or less emptier than she imagined. The garden was bare, no grass. That saddened her.

"Otou-sama." She said, when they finished packing her belongings away. "May I decorate the garden?"

"Oh that sounds like a lovely idea! Your Okaa-san would love to see your work!"

She nodded, and the two of them, accompanied with more of the animal men, she called them, took a walk to the Hokage building. There, was a blond woman who copied Keitaro's hair style.

She earned an invisible point.

"Daimyō-sama, welcome. I trust your trip was good?"

"Oh yes!" Her Father purred, waving his fan. "The sun's out, so of course it's a good day! Oh yes!"

The woman nodded rather undifferently in responce, moving her attention to Keitone, who stood at her Father's side, emotionlesess. He smiled at her from behind his fan and she sniffed, still standing straight. These shoes were hurting.

"Say hello to the Hokage-sama." He told her.

She just gave the same straight face the whole way. Keitaro bowed, her fringe shifting from behind her ears to in her eyes.

"Hello Hokage-sama. Thank you for allowing me into the village."

"Some kid you got there." She remarked, smirking.

The Daiymō laughed nervously, patting her on the head. "Yes, well, she definatly has grown since we got her back. Though she doesn't like to talk much…."

"We can talk about her treament right now, if you prefer. Sakura-chan!"

"Yes sensei?"

A girl with pink hair walked into the room from behind the pair, waiting. Keitaro didn't turn, but kept looking at the Hokage. Mo taught her to always keep her head up.

"Would you mind showing the Daiymō's daughter around the city? She'll be living here now and will need to find her way around quickly."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The girl looked down at her, leaning forward so that Keitaro could see her.

"Behave." Her Father said and she nodded.

"Goodbye Otou-sama, Hokage-sama."

The woman nodded and Keitaro followed after the girl, outside and onto the street. She walked in front, talking. Keitaro breathed out and stopped.

"So my name's Sakura! You can use -chan if you want, I don't mind." Sakura smiled slightly. The girl couldn't have been more than nine or ten, and she still had some puppy cheeks, though her high cheekbones evened them out. "Oh, would you like to look at some clothes? I know a few kimono shops that have restocked for summer. They always have some nice ones, and I bet they'll have some your size. Oh, are you hungry, 'cause it's almost lunchtime. I heard before that you traveled with your Otou-san. Must be exciting, yes?"

When Sakura didn't get a reply, she turned. She was met with only a pair of shoes, but no girl.

"..yes?" Her voice said absently, as she processed the incident. "Oh crap!"

**XXXX**

**TBC**


	2. On the Run

**XXXX**

**X Naruto Fanfiction X**

**Born of Flames**

**xxx**

_Chapter Two:_

_On the Run_

**XXXX**

"Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary."

― Amos Bronson Alcott, Concord Days

**XXXX**

No-nonsense and with no clue where to start exploring the village that was to be her new home, the red head left Sakura at an intersection and melted into the crowds of disproportionate heights. It was sunny, and that meant there was more people out than usual. That meant an added concealment factor was present, and she would gladly take it - if that meant she didn't have to keep acting so _prim_. Being skillful in the art of escaping is something everyone should learn.

The village seemed pretty lively in her eyes, with the added sense of timeliness of the countryside added to the quieter streets. There were banners that tied from the top of one residential building to another and you really never could understand the immenseness of this place unless you walked in barefeet by yourself, hitching up a kimono. Fried mince wafted off the hot air whose temperature wasn't brought down by it. Keitaro, barefooted, found herself wandering - not lost, mind you. There's a difference.

The distance she put between herself and her guards was largely due to her hip hopping from one alley to another. Losing track of the pinkette was one mission, but she needed to lose the others, the back ups.

And in doing so, she found herself here, still outside, but in a clearing of sorts. Where the ground lay bare as the paddings of her feet, she stood, observing. Not so obviously, though, inside some bushes. Ones that were taller and thicker that the ones back home, ones that added to her vertical implications. Her eyes watched carefully as children, some - probably her own age - came out of the building, all chattering, all oblivious to her presence which laid still and silent. Even her breathing was brought to an instinctual minimum.

They were followed by a man in a flap jacket, who had a soft expression, along with another whose eyebrows were shaped in a way that made him come off angry, even though she could clearly hear a caring tone in the way he interacted. She scratched her wrists as the children begun running laps around the field. It was lovely to watch how toned muscles of the children as tall as herself were to run and expend power, to survive while concentrating on one thing, when several things was the most realistic setting.

All it took was a little sniff to give her away, and she hadn't expected for it to be picked up so quickly. She'd been in previous circumstances, more dangerous ones where a simple sniff went by an enemy like air did to skin. She pointed this down as circumstantial, as they were in a controlled environment, and the girl was asked to step out of the bushes. She complied silently, mentally noting down how these ninja were sharp, the ones in Konoha.

"What are you doing here kid?" The man asked, as some of the other children began to notice her appearance, slowing down their jogging, but never stopping.

She shrugged and answered him with an eye rolling silence.

_Blown here by the winds of chance._

The man, who by now was probably sick of her silence, decided to grab her, but ultimately failed, which surprised him greatly. Like the slime from a fish, Keitaro slipped from his grasp, pausing to raise an eyebrow, as if to challenge the man. He tried again, only for her to duck her shoulder beneath the reaching fingers, jumping back into the bushes and running with a hitched skirt, away into oblivion of the city limits.

**XXXX**

"I am truly sorry Haruno-san."

Imagine her surprise when she explained the predicament to the rather disgruntled Tsunade, only to have the Fire Daimyō himself was bowing in apology to _her._ For losing sight of his _daughter!_

"Please don't bow to me sir, it's my fault. I promise I'll do everything to find her."

He waved his fan quickly, his eyes closed. "Thank you. I'm so sorry that she's done this, but the girl can never sit still, or listen…."

"Really?" Tsunade said, an eyebrow raising. "Because before, she had a very bureaucratic air to her character. Something worthy of your lineage."

He smiled at her compliment, though somewhat fretting. "Yes, thank you. She never used to act this way though, before the kidnapping. She does it for us, I think, the obedience, but once she's alone she's very strong willed. I'm afraid for what she will become, if she wanders too far…."

"She'll be safe here." Tsunade comfortingly said, reassuring him that his daughter will be in safe hands. She would see that the girl would be taken care of, properly. "Sakura, why don't you go fetch Kakashi-san and Neji-san to help you?"

"Yes sensei."

**XXXX**

Her feet, hot from where they stood minutes ago, found comfort in standing on the wooden seat, standing. Her small hands gripped the chains that were attached and twisted wildly, swinging up and down on the playground. What drew her to the area, who knew. She felt a livelihood here and was pleasantly happy to feeling the wind in her hair, body in the air. It wasn't the safe if you had two feet planted on the ground, more fun on an unsteady surface. The air rippled underneath the ripped ends of her kimono. She stopped swinging, when she sensed the presence of a young man, who was watching directly across from her, standing with his arms crossed.

Keitaro slumped down in a sitting position and tilted her head to the right, as if observing, when really in fact she was wondering if he had the time of day to play with her.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked, almost confident. "Or do you take a fancy at staring at pretty girls."

He snorted, somewhat of a rashing red emerging on his cheeks and nose. The way he crossed his arms, the way the light tinted off his mechanical goggles, he came of as stand-offish, twitchy. He was quick to argue with her, and she the same. Two star-crossed children, at it at the necks. And this wasn't even their first _date._

"Where?" He stated, his cheeks puffing. "I only see a brat."

"How ironic. I was beginning to think that maybe you possessed _some_ amount of a pea sized brain, but I'm afraid that the mosquito colony living inside your canopy of a skull has not only drained that dry, but implanted more blood into your cheeks because _damn_ you resemble an autumn tomato."

His face lit up like a bonfire and Keitaro watched as he tried, respectfully, to match her tongue. True, she didn't like to talk but it was always the quiet ones that they should be weary of. Her mind was sharpened with observation and trained to defend. This was only a temporary situation, Konoha.

"F-, what - urgh!"

"Go on. Use your words."

"URGH! You're so annoying!"

"How rude. I was only making smalltalk."

Her face remained stone like as her head turned, to watch a newcomer drop in, one with a dark shade of glasses, who observed her as simply a child, she imagined. She sighed and closed her eyes, legs swinging.

"There you are! Don't you remember that you have trainings after going to the academy today?"

The kid nodded grudgingly. "Yes Ebisu-sensei, but I wanted to talk to her." He pointed at Keitaro, who lifted her head, blinking absently. "She randomly turned up at the academy and managed to escape Hikamaru-sensei!" He then whispered, a hand cupping his mouth. "But she's kind of a bitc-"

"Finish that and I kill make sure you won't be able to _taste_ any more."

Ebisu, who observed the girl more this time, straightened his back, eyes wary of the swing set kid. Hikamaru was known for his speed, so for someone to escape him was something to be weary about.

And this kid didn't look a day over eleven.

"Who are you?" He asked.

She looked away, sniffing loudly, breathing in. "Nobody important. Just waiting on some people. What about you?"

"Me?" The kid asked, pointing to himself. She nodded and his eyes thinned in suspicion. "Why would you want to know, jerk?"

"Wooooaaaah, I was only asking. No need for name calling. It was a simple question, it wasn't like I was judging you on that shirt you're wearing or how this place is too big for me to know how to get back to the Hokage office."

While the kid blubbered, she spoke up again. "Oi, Ebisu-sensei, do you know the way?"

"He's not _your_ sensei!"

"Why?" The man asked and she groaned loudly, swinging.

"It's just a question, honestly! You people…"

It wasn't even two seconds later that the pinkette appeared, flanked with two other ninja like people and Keitaro hopped off, patting her kimono down, making herself presentable.

"Hello Haruno-san."

"Shijimi-sama, you can't go running off like that, your Otou-san is worried about you!"

She swallowed a sigh and composed her reply, as the kid beside the man named Ebisu stood silent, eyes wider than usual.

"I understand Haruno-san, it won't occur again."

"Oi!" The kid called, as Sakura was leading her away, the other two ninja going back to whatever they were doing. "I'm Konohamaru, remember it!"

She turned away from Sakura's hand that laid on her back, and bowed, the sudden gesture shocking the brown haired kid, causing his face to heat up again.

"Pleasure. Please excuse me, tomato-san, but I have to get back to Hokage-sama."

"W-Wait, are you even going to tell me _your name!?"_

She blinked and turned.

"Maybe. But not today."

**XXXX**

Later, when she was asleep, there was a discovery on the borders of the city, five kilometers away from the walls. Strewn bodies lay wasted, burned and charred.

Sweeter dreams had been felt.

Ones without flames.

**XXXX**

**TBC**

**Howdy doo. The name's Verdigurl, and I didn't really introduce myself. So, what I do down here, I usually give thanks to the support that the community here gives me and it gives a chance to reply to the reviewers, so I'm going to do that now, and if you - you know, want to, review? Or fave, follow even? I like to see what you guys think~**

**Guest: And here you have it, hope you liked it~**

**anon: Why thank you, thanks kind to say. I've always thought about a younger protagonist that's not the same age as the other characters. I too want to see how this turns out~**

**Chi-chan: N'aww, stop, you're making me blush~**

**-Vg**


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